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It's mid-season. The Journal Gazette's Midseason Notre Dame review is in papers Friday. So Insights is releasing its midseason grades for Notre Dame, just as the players and Notre Dame students finish up midterms and get a week-long break fall (football players excluded. They have to be back next week).
Here are the offensive grades by position group, which aren't offensive at all:
QUARTERBACK
GRADE: B+
Why: Jimmy Clausen has been the quarterback almost everyone expected him to be the past three games. He now has the second-longest pass attempt streak without an interception in Notre Dame history (132 passes, behind that Brady Quinn guy) and has been clutch when the Irish have needed him to be. His early-season interception struggles -- two a game the first three contests -- and some of his decision-making still screams youngster, but he is a sophomore. Clausen will be very, very good by the time he leaves Notre Dame. The past three games proved that.
RUNNING BACKS
GRADE: C-
Why: Charlie Weis said before the season he wanted to pound the football. Maybe he meant pound the air? None of Notre Dame's running backs are averaging more than 50 yards per game and only one -- sophomore Armando Allen -- has shown flashes of brilliance throughout the season's first half. Sophomore Robert Hughes has almost disappeared and James Aldridge has been OK in minimal action. None of Notre Dame's running backs are in the top 100 rushing and the Irish as a whole are 109th in the country running the ball. Allen has been good catching the ball out of the backfield, which has been a savior for this position group's grade, lifting it out of D range.
WIDE RECEIVERS
GRADE: A
Why: Michael Floyd is ahead of expectations, especially mentally. By season's end, he'll likely shatter every Notre Dame freshman receiving record. He's currently tied with Duval Kamara for the freshman receiving touchdowns record with four. Kamara, a sophomore, is the fourth receiver on this team. Sophomore Golden Tate has been a surprise, but has become Notre Dame's best playmaker. Combined, Floyd and Tate have made Clausen look good on bad passes and great on good passes. A deep unit already -- consider last year's Game 1 starters at wide receivers are No. 3 receiver David Grimes and No. 6 receiver George West -- they've become the most talented group on the roster. Notre Dame's passing attack is No. 18 in the country. These guys are the reason why.
TIGHT ENDS
GRADE: B-
Why: Kyle Rudolph's grade is an A-. Let's get that out of the way. He has played virtually every down for Notre Dame this year, shown ability to catch passes and is improving as a blocker. For being thrust into the position, he has played better than admirably. The position group as a whole takes a knock, though, because of Will Yeatman. His decision-making and subsequent suspension took a numbers-deprived group and made it even worse. Before Yeatman's suspension, the Irish had already lost Mike Ragone to a season-ending knee injury and at Luke Schmidt to headaches, knocking him out indefinitely. Losing Yeatman leaves the tight ends down to one. So this grade isn't because of on the field play. It is because of off-the-field decision-making.
OFFENSIVE LINE
GRADE: B
Why: For the most part, Clausen has had time and not been pressured out of the pocket the second he finishes his five-step drop or receives the ball out of shotgun. For the first two games of the season, Clausen was kept clean. Even now, Notre Dame is allowing 1.5 sacks per game, markedly better than last season's turnstile offensive line philosophy. The running game, though, still can't find holes behind this line, so there's a point of improvement there. But the offense is moving at a good clip and penalties for false starts and holding are down from a year ago. This group is much closer to the unit of 2006 than the one that played last season.
Agree? Disagree? Send your comments to mrothstein@jg.net or drop them in comment boxes below. Best ones make Thursday's Mailbag.
